Ilford’s Galerie Gold Fibre Silk; A Galerie For The Gallery Wall

At a recent photo trade show in New York numerous paper companies showcased
the latest trend in inkjet media--papers that had the look and feel of
the best of past silver printing papers. The diversity of weight, base color,
and texture are now quite amazing, exceeding anything we ever had in the chemical
darkroom. The truth of the matter is that while there are many brands and surfaces,
many companies carry re-branded papers of the same make from a few mills or
coating alleys, with perhaps slight variations in weight and tone. One company
that handles coating itself is Ilford, a name not unfamiliar to silver printers.
While they carry a variety of paper types, their latest, and that which caught
our eye, is Galerie Gold Fibre Silk.

Available in sheet sizes from 8.5x11 to 17x22", and in long rolls up
to 44" wide, the paper is a heavyweight (310gsm) if you go by darkroom
standards, which should cause you to check the throughput channel that's
best for your printer. It shows a clean white base, although it is slightly
warmer than the recently tested Epson Exhibition paper. The paper surface is
an extremely close match to air-dried double-weight glossy fiber photographic
papers. It also has a barium sulfate (known as baryta) base, which Ilford claims
enhances the media surface and enhances the textural whites and deep blacks
it does indeed produce. In fact, and I know this will sound odd, it even smelled
like photographic paper when I opened the interior plastic wrapping, much like
fresh coffee when you first open the can.

Any inkjet paper company worth its salt will provide you with profiles for your
printer, and Ilford has done its homework with a host of profiles for the most
popular printers, including the one I used on this test, the Epson Stylus Pro
3800. If you don't want to bother with that (and I can't imagine
why that might be) you can use the Epson profile for their Premium Semigloss.
To get the profile for your printer go to the Ilford website. After supplying
an e-mail and picking a password, Ilford e-mails the GretagMacbeth-generated
profile back to you along with instructions on how to install it in your particular
OS.

I tested the paper using two workflows. For one I used the profile Ilford
supplied and as suggested chose Relative Colormetric as the Intent. I let Photoshop
Determine Colors and turned Printer Color Management Off. My monitor is well
calibrated so I had no challenge there, and I loaded the paper using the rear
channel on the 3800. The other method I used was to work with Epson's
Advanced Black and White mode (thus I let the printer handle colors), which
does not use the Ilford profile, and in the Print Settings on my Mac chose Premium
Semigloss, as Ilford suggested. In both cases I used Photo Black inksets for
the paper; in fact, in the Epson driver you'll get that automatically
when you choose that paper.

When the prints came out they exhibited a slight curl, not from anything the
printer did to the paper but almost from the inks being "wet," although
there was certainly no smudging. I placed them on a rack and they were flat
in about a minute, which meant they were OK to handle. Ilford suggests letting
them air-dry like this for quite a while, overnight being my procedure anyway
before they are put away, a de-gassing that seems to be the norm.

I am happy to report that the prints were among the best I ever saw using this
printer. I printed a series of one image from high key to deep toned and the
paper responded with a range of interpretations that yielded everything I saw
on the monitor, no mean feat. Blacks were certainly deep and rich, but it was
in the lighter grays and highlights where the luxurious values came through.
The paper base is just a touch warm; not what you would call "warm tone,"
just a touch below bright white. And the weight made the paper easily handled,
which will be helpful when having them matted by outside services, which I do,
having sliced too many fingers attempting that skill myself.

The Epson Advanced Black and White mode workflow also was very rewarding, especially
when using the custom toning available through that interface. Ilford does provide
helpful tips for toning if you wish, but I find them a bit elaborate, and they
need to update some of their website's recommendations to include the
new features for black and white printmakers in CS3.

This level of quality does not come cheaply. While prices vary by merchant and
form of distribution, my search for a 13x19 box of paper yielded a cost of about
$2.80 per sheet in 50-sheet boxes, and more for lesser quantities. You might
want to try out a 10 pack to see if it suits you, which in 8.5x11 size is well
under $20. But if you are seeking one of the best papers for monochrome printing
that holds the look and feel of the best of the silver papers of the past, I
found Ilford's Galerie Gold Fibre Silk to be among the cream of the current
crop.